oxide

oxide

oxide, chemical compound containing oxygen and one other chemical element. Oxides are widely and abundantly distributed in nature. Water is the oxide of hydrogen. Silicon dioxide is the major component of sand and quartz. Carbon dioxide is given off during respiration by animals and plants. Carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and oxides of nitrogen are among the waste gases of gasoline-burning internal-combustion engines. Nitrous oxide is an oxide of nitrogen often called laughing gas. Many of the metals form oxides. Some metal oxides, e.g., those of iron, aluminum, tin, and zinc, are important as ores. Litharge and red lead are lead oxides used as pigments in paint. A number of elements, e.g., arsenic, carbon, manganese, nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur, combine with oxygen to form more than one oxide. The inert gases do not form oxides. The halogens and inactive metals do not combine directly with oxygen, but their oxides can be formed by indirect methods. Oxides are usually named according to the number of oxygen atoms present in a molecule, e.g., monoxide (or simply oxide), dioxide, trioxide. In a molecule of carbon monoxide, CO, for example, there is one oxygen atom; in carbon dioxide, CO2, there are two; and in phosphorus pentoxide, P2O5, there are five. Oxides are commonly classified as acidic or basic oxides or anhydrides. Sulfur trioxide is an acid anhydride; it reacts with water to form sulfuric acid. Phosphorus pentoxide reacts vigorously with water to form phosphoric acid. Many metal oxides react with water to form alkaline hydroxides, e.g., calcium oxide (lime) reacts with water to form calcium hydroxide (slaked lime). Some metal oxides do not react with water but are basic in that they react with an acid to form a salt and water. Others exhibit amphoterism; i.e., they react with both acids and bases. Still others are neutral and nonreactive.

Virtually all elements burn in an atmosphere of oxygen. In the presence of water and oxygen (or simply air), some elements - lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium, strontium and barium - react rapidly, even dangerously to give the hydroxides. In part for this reason, alkali and alkaline earth metals are not found in nature in their metallic, i.e., native, form. Caesium is so reactive with oxygen that it is used as a getter in vacuum tubes, and solutions of potassium and sodium, so called NaK are used to deoxygenate and dehydrate some organic solvents. The surface of most metals consist of oxides and hydroxides in the presence of air. A well known example is aluminium foil, which is coated with a thin film of aluminium oxide that passivates the metal, slowing further corrosion. The aluminium oxide layer can be built to greater thickness by the process of electrolyticanodising. Although solid magnesium and aluminium react slowly with oxygen at STP, they, like most metals, will burn in air, generating very high temperatures. As a consequence, finely divided powders of most metals can be dangerously explosive in air.

In dry oxygen, iron readily forms iron(II) oxide, but the formation of the hydrated ferric oxides, Fe2O3−2x(OH)x, that mainly comprise rust, typically requires oxygen and water. The production of free oxygen by photosyntheticbacteria some 3.5 billion years ago precipitated iron out of solution in the oceans as Fe2O3 in the economically-important iron orehematite.

Due to its electronegativity, oxygen forms chemical bonds with almost all elements to give the corresponding oxides. So-called noble metals (common examples: gold, platinum) resist direct chemical combination with oxygen, and substances like gold(III) oxide must be generated by indirect routes.

Although many anions are stable in aqueous solution, ionic oxides are not. For example, sodium chloride dissolves readily in water to give a solution containing the constituent ions, Na+ and Cl−. Oxides do not behave like this. If an ionic oxide dissolves, the O2− ions become protonated. Although calcium oxide, CaO, is said to "dissolve" in water, the products include hydroxide:

CaO + H2O → Ca2+ + 2 OH−

In fact, no monoatomic dianion is known to dissolve in water - all are so basic that they undergo hydrolysis. Concentrations of oxide ion in water are too low to be detectable with current technology.

Nomenclature

In the 18th century, oxides were named calxes or calces after the calcination process used to produce oxides. Calx was later replaced by oxyd.

Oxides are usually named after the number of oxygen atoms in the oxide. Oxides containing only one oxygen are called oxides or monoxides, those containing two oxygen atoms are dioxides, three oxygen atoms makes it a trioxide, four oxygen atoms are tetroxides, and so on following the Greeknumerical prefixes. In the older literature and continuing in industry, oxides are named by contracting the element name with "a." Hence alumina, magnesia, chromia, are, respectively, Al2O3, MgO, Cr2O3.